Best of Bourdain: 7 can't-miss adventures

Katie McLaughlin, CNN

Updated 2146 GMT (0546 HKT) March 25, 2015

Best of Bourdain: 7 adventures9 photos

Bullfighting bravado – Want to channel your inner wanderer? Click through for some suggestions based on Anthony Bourdain's adventures. Up first: Bullfighting in Spain. Here, a Spanish matador greets the public during a bullfight in Granada.

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Best of Bourdain: 7 adventures9 photos

In the ring with El Fandi – During the second season of "Parts Unknown," Tony visited the ranch of David Fandila, the star matador known as El Fandi. One of El Fandi's signature moves is to drop to his knees in a dramatic fashion as he waves his cape to goad the bull.

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Best of Bourdain: 7 adventures9 photos

Looking for the other Las Vegas – In the shadow of the Las Vegas strip, Tony took a look at "the other Vegas" last season. "The Vegas people live in year-round. The Vegas I've always loved."

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Best of Bourdain: 7 adventures9 photos

Local Vegas haunts – He got a glimpse of that alternative Vegas in places like the Huntridge Tavern, the Double Down Saloon, the Peppermill, Atomic Liquors, the Bootlegger Bistro and Lotus of Siam.

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Best of Bourdain: 7 adventures9 photos

Target practice in New Mexico – In New Mexico, Tony ate viciously hot chiles, took a look at the American cowboy ideal and explored gun culture in the U.S. "There are a lot of nice people in this country," he said. "A whole helluva lot of them, like it or not, own AR-15s."

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Best of Bourdain: 7 adventures9 photos

The heart of the blues – Earlier in his life, Tony wouldn't have considered visiting Mississippi. After a trip to the Delta, he's glad he did. Seeing the birthplace of the blues and hearing about the struggles woven into the state's fabric gave him a new-found appreciation for Mississippi.

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Best of Bourdain: 7 adventures9 photos

Horse power, with vodka – Bourdain and his friend Zamir Gotta got bundled up, flasks in hand, for a sleigh ride through the grounds of an imperial palace on a traditional Russian troika. Troika tours are offered at numerous parks and palace grounds throughout Russia.

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Best of Bourdain: 7 adventures9 photos

A human-powered ride – At a festival in Myanmar, Tony spotted a unique carnival ride: A Ferris wheel driven by human power. He described the acrobatic, circus-like spinning as an "insanely dangerous, closely choreographed process of first getting the giant, heavily laden wheel in motion and then getting it up to top speed and keeping it there."

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Best of Bourdain: 7 adventures9 photos

The midnight train to wherever – Tony and Zamir took an overnight train from Moscow to St. Petersburg, riding the rails in the lap of luxury. Pictured above is a similar luxury car. Whether you ride in luxury or shoulder-to-shoulder in a rattletrap railcar, overnight trains offer an interesting experience.

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Story highlights

Follow in the footsteps of Anthony Bourdain with these travel ideas

Ride through the winter landscape in a troika outside of St. Petersburg

Take a night train almost anywhere for interesting memories

(CNN)Looking for a vacation that will shock all five of your senses? Anthony Bourdain can help.

Season 4 of "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown" starts in the fall. In the meantime, here are seven ideas drawn from some of his best adventures.

Brave a bullfight in Spain

Bourdain paid a visit to La Marquesas Ranch, the private bullring of star matador David Fandila -- who is professionally known as El Fandi. El Fandi, one of the world's top bullfighters, is as known for his courage as he is for his flashy antics in the ring.

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Bourdain watches bullfighting in Spain

You probably won't get personal pointers from El Fandi, but just witnessing this spectacle can be breathtaking.

Although many consider bullfighting an art, the sport is not without controversy. Many are morally opposed to what they consider taunting and brutally slaughtering an animal in a very public arena. The ethical debate is a hot-button issue frequently debated in Spanish Parliament

"To see Spain, to see it straight, to understand it at all, you should probably peek -- if only through spread fingers -- at that most Spanish of traditions, bull fighting," said Bourdain. "There is no denying the terrible beauty of a very complex tradition. The matadors were the original rock stars, the very ideal of masculinity, male beauty and grace."

You may never set foot in a bullring, but you can shout "¡Olé!" from the sidelines if you find yourself in Spain. The bullrings in Granada, Ronda and Madrid will get you started.

Sing the blues in Mississippi

Before he started traveling around the world, Anthony Bourdain admits that he never would have considered visiting Mississippi.

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Bourdain surprised by the modern South

But his dim view of the very Deep South soon widened into a love for a very special part of his own country. Especially what he considers the United States' "most powerful and persuasive export and gift to the world": The blues.

Mississippi's poverty means regular renovations generally aren't a top priority. But the rustic atmosphere is part of the Delta's charm.

Many places where the blues are performed look exactly the same today as they did more than a half-century ago.

"The blues, rock 'n' roll, R&B, soul and funk, all came out of this place. One state. Mississippi," said Bourdain.

Bourdain: 'Don't do Pad Thai here'

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Bourdain: Jazz and nostalgia in Vegas

When Bourdain visited Las Vegas in Season 3, he experienced a city that few people see. He saw the polar opposites of the spectrum: From the ultra-exclusive Villa at Caesars Palace and a nightclub whose patrons drop thousands of dollars on drinks in a single evening, to a local tavern andan eatery dripping with old Vegas charm far, far off the beaten path of the Strip.

"Sinatra and the mob are gone, but there remains, still, a certain sentimental attachment to the way things used to be. There were rules then. A way that things were done. And when they weren't done, there was always the desert and a hole in the ground," Bourdain said.

With a stunning landscape and big open sky, many people gravitate to the state some refer to as the Land of Enchantment. A large Native American population, a hippie influx that began in the 1970s and the largest Hispanic population per capita in the United States give New Mexico a unique American cultural blend.

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Bourdain: 'My face is burning off'

It was in New Mexico that Bourdain explored the Western cowboy mystique. With its relaxed gun laws, target shooting is an option for a fun outing with friends. Some children receive rite-of-passage rifles the same way other kids get baseball bats.

"We are a gun culture. The expression of American power and identity has always been the lone cowboy with a gun. That goes deep. This is the heart of the American dream. Love it or hate it, this is it," Bourdain said.

Get a taste of New Mexico's culture -- with care. The Shooting Range Park is operated by the City of Albuquerque, providing "an alternative to illegal firearm practice on our mesas, open spaces and vacant areas," according to its website.

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Giddy-up giddy-up giddy-up let's go!

Bourdain traveled to Russia and filmed an episode with his longtime friend/drinking buddy Zamir Gotta. At one point, they toured the wintry terrain outside of St. Petersburg on a traditional troika, a sleigh pulled by a team of three horses.

Bundled in blankets and sipping vodka from flasks, they rode through the countryside where the city's wealthiest residents have their country homes, or dachas, and Emperor Paul built his 18th-century home.

"The rest of Russia is very, very different than Moscow," Bourdain said. "I mean (in Moscow), you drive around, and it's like Bentley, Ferrari, Maserati, you know. You go to buy a pair of shoes, you pick up a Bentley on the way out."

Near Saint Petersburg, you can experience a more traditional side of Russia with a troika ride -- flasks optional. Try rides in Pavlovsk Park or through the grounds of Catherine Palace.

Ride a human-powered Ferris wheel in Southeast Asia

In the very first episode of "Parts Unknown," Bourdain explored Myanmar. While the government has relaxed some of its hold of the Southeast Asian nation, it's still controlled by a military regime.

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Human-powered Ferris wheel

At one of the evening street fairs in Yangon, Bourdain happened upon a human-powered Ferris wheel. Powering the wheel requires its operators -- flip-flop-clad local teenage boys -- to move quickly through the structure, making it turn with the weight and momentum of their bodies

If, unlike Bourdain, you'd like to give a human-powered Ferris wheel a whirl, the rides can be found at night markets and street fairs throughout Southeast Asia and southern India.

Take a midnight train goin' anywhere

The night train to St. Petersburg is one of the most fun things to do in Russia, Bourdain said. Rolling through dark, snow-covered birch forests, he and Zamir enjoyed caviar, pickled herring, and of course, vodka.

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On that midnight train to St. Petersburg

In stark contrast, he also took the night train to Myanmar's ancient capital of Bagan. The 20-plus hour journey (it was supposed to take 10) intermittently picked up terrifying speeds on a train where derailments, known as "rail-slips," are quite common.

"Six hundred kilometers of what will turn out to be kidney-softening travel by rail ... So really the question on this end of the journey is: Come back on the train, or fly back in a coffin?" he joked.